h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I never ever thought I'd see it...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqinthenews/2004/usslav/

As of right now, 8:50 PM EST, they're saying 11.000 dead.



This is the worst quake I've ever seen.

It's just one year after that big one in Iran that destroyed Bam, one year to the day, and just a few days after that one on Macquarie...

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vLCE/B46020E42CECE0A3C1256F76003D51A4?OpenDocument&StartKey=South+Asia:+Earthquake+and+Tsunami+-+Dec+2004&ExpandView

I don't have a lot of money- I wonder if they'd take blankets, or clothes?

Woah, it seems to be getting worse, Earlier reuters et al said it was 8.9... which is still extremely bad, but at that end of the scale 0.1 can make a fair difference

That's the latest calculation, after they've looked at the data- it's really scary.

My mom saw on CNN that it was so strong, it interfered with the Earth's rotation. Can anyone confirm that?

my god! 11,000!? i didnt think it was that many!
any loss of life at all is allways tragic, but thats just terrible.
and i didnt realise that it was 9.0, i thought somewhere in the mid 8's. its so huge i find it rather hard to grasp sometimes....

my mom called a bunch of news stations to give them the red cross number so that they could display it and people could give donations and things.

i think the red cross will take blankets and things like that. i wonder what else they would take.
i wish there was something i could do, i'd like to have been able to stop it from happening... but thats unrealistic.

i feel like going and lighting a few candles for all the people that died, perhaps i will.

i'd like to know if it actually did interfere wiht the earths rotation... and if it did what would that mean?

It is amazing how little we really know about this planet, even though we try...

Over here the news concerning the earthquake is all about the Israelis there (the area is very popular for after-the-army trips). I understand the worry, but it bugs me that all the thousands of people killed are hardly mentioned.

9.0 such a big'un, strange it allways seems to happen at Christmas init, something "called and act of god" happening on his son's birthday, still we have good charities around and in place on the ground!

a big hug to all those that need one!


and i suspect the reason we havent heard more news is because most of the commuications are down!

*sighs and feels sad that so many people died* And I just know that next time I see my brother and his friends they'll all be making fun of the people who died... *sighs* They have a habit of doing that when there is a large disaster. *sighs once more and goes to lie down and ponder*

As of 09.40 GMT it is reported that it was 9.0 on the Richter scale and 15,500 people have been killed

My mum said she was surprised the Waves didn't hit Australia but thinking about the layout of the area it was probably protected by New Guinea and Indonesia

Scan I know you are interested in knitting but OXFAM here in Britian have a really easy knitting pattern for jumpers they send wherever they're needed

I guess try the churches and charities to see if anyone is collecting for emergancy relief

25 thousand dead so far accoring to the news


4 british

It's going to be a lot lot more unfortunatly

Well the St. John in Sri Lanka are gonna be busy, I hope they've got more ambulances than the last time I heard.

It's both facinating and horrifying at the same time. How one thing can cause such monumental damage over such a large area in just a few hours...

All we can do is to get the chequebooks out.

They had another one near India this morning didn't they? a 6.5 one

If there are any HooToo members waiting for news, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

This is truly dreadful. I don't think I remember a disaster on this scale before. At least not one affecting so many countries. The hurricanes in the US were awful this year, but what make this disaster so much worse is the fact that the areas are so heavily populated normally, and with so many people, students in particular, there for Xmas and the New Year it is far worse.

I am still amazed that while the Pacific Ocean is monitored for earthquake and volcanic activity the Indian Ocean isn't. WHY for s sake

The death toll will continue to rise for many days I fear. I feel so sorry for everyone involved, either directly, or indirectly. Families waiting at home for news must be in agony.

Another means of sending help is through :
http://survivors.aidindia.org should anyone be interested.

I think Red Cross and many of the agencies would prefer money to goods, as they can buy cheaper locally close to the disaster areas, and do not have to transport stuff so far. Just a thought. I am sure small amounts are just as welcome as large donations. It all mounts up.

I am now going to my family, and thank God, or whoever we believe in, that we are all safe, and say some prayers for all those suffering. Once again we are reminded of the power of the natural world, and that we shouldn't abuse it or take it for granted for a moment, as we have been doing.

Christmas and New Year has always been a poignant time - a mixture of happiness and sadness, but this just about beats the lot.

Wishing everyone a peaceful, safe and uneventful New Year,

Websailor

The indian ocean isn't because it'd be pointless, eathquakes like this don't happen very often and there wouldn't actually be time to warn anyone

i think it's time we had a reliable form of senseing earthquakes, also why does it allways seem to plauge the 3rd world, these types of disasters affect the people who can affond not to have it happen to them, and at a holiday time too, when everyone is at home, really strange that!

TB,

According to our news tonight, those who monitor earthquakes knew some hours before what was likely to happen but were *powerless* to warn anyone . Apparently there was no mechanism in place to pass the information on

Now, I know that fishing villages and the less developed areas might have been difficult to contact, but the tourist centres, hotels etc. have phones, email, faxes etc. and word of mouth spreads fast in an emergency. The panic couldn't have been any worse than it was, and at least most people would have known what was happening.

Warnings COULD have gone out and saved probably several thousand lives. Apparently a while back the countries around that fault area discussed a warning system, but didn't believe it would ever happen, and decided it was too expensive.

I hope they sleep well in their beds.

Websailor

It took a total of around 4 hours for the tsunami to reach the coast of India and wotnot....there "could" have been warnings as there are in the Pacific ocean, but they don't have anything like that in the indian ocean....perhaps mistakes could be learned from....




My heart goes out to those who have lost their lives, and those who have lost loved ones....believe me, I don't have much to give right now, but I'm giving all that I can


Take care all

VV

I've heard on the news today it reached as far as Somalia and Kenia. As if all these people don't have enough trouble... it's like Rev Jack says, it's always the poor countries that suffer the worst, because they have bad infrastructure to begin with.

30,000 still missing - thirty thousand! And 'missing' means probably dead. In all the wars, in all the things we bring on ourselves, where have there been such damage in a single day?

Yeah, it's horific. We keep hearing the stories about the Australian fatalities and it's horrible. One 15yr old boy with Down Syndrome and a 6 month old baby who was swept out of her dad's arms by the wave, he was left just holding clothes.

For however mentioned it: It swept down Western Australia's coast, not towards it. If it had been a bit further east the top of Australia wouldn't have been sheilded by Indonesia etc and would have been hit too. Small mercy, I spose...

Cat